Salomon van Ruysdael

Sale, Amsterdam, Fr. Muller, 25 April 1911, lot 95, to De Haas;
R. Page-Croft, Esq.;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, 18 July 1974, lot 240;
Private Collection, Germany.

The catalogue illustration is too red in tone. The panel support has been cradled and remains flat and stable. The painting has recently been cleaned and restored and is in excellent overall condition, with no apparent sign of wear and all original impasto and brushstrokes beautifully preserved. Inspection under ultra violet light reveals only minimal local spot retouchings. The varnish remans clear and even and the painting will not require further attention. Offered with a Dutch ebonised wood frame with ripple sight and outer mouldings in good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

With this charming small panel, depicting a herdsman driving his cattle through a sodden gully, Ruysdael is at his narrative best. It is a relatively late work by Ruysdael, the colour range broader than in his earlier works and with a keen interest in the sky and its cloud formations, imbuing the dune landscape, reminiscent of the environs of Ruysdael's hometown Haarlem, with a sense of monumentality. Conversely, the motif of the bull mounting a cow, which appears in another work from Ruysdael's later period, now in Mainz, serves in a small way to 'familiarize' the scene.¹

Wolfgang Stechow strangely neglects to include this work in his 1975 catalogue raisonné on the artist, despite its having extremely similar provenance to his cat. no. 302;²  both works were offered, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 25 April 1911, as consecutive lots (95 and 96) and both seem to have found their way into the collection of the Englishman R. Page-Croft, the present work being sold by him, 19 July 1974 (see Provenance) and Stechow's cat. no. 302 a month earlier on 28 June (London, Christie's, lot 15). Although of starkly different subjects, the confusion is probably due to his identifying the two works as one and the same on the basis of their coincidental provenances.

The old reproduction in the sale of 1911, shows that the motif of the mounting cow was overpainted at the time.

1. See W, Stechow, Salomon van Ruysdael, Berlin 1975, p. 96, no. 185, reproduced plate 15, fig. 20.
2. Ibid., p. 113, cat. no. 302.